ALCOHOL RECOVERY AND TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD (DRUG ADDICTION).
Contributors: Oregon Health Sciences University.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 249
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to explore women's concurrent experiences of alcohol/drug recovery and transition to parenthood. The study used a qualitative design to explore and understand women's experiences of recovery from alcohol/drug dependence during pregnancy and early parenting up to the first year after birth. Observation, diary entries, and intensive interviews were used for data collection from a purposive sample. Eleven women, who self-identified as recovering alcoholics/addicts and were either pregnant or had an infant younger than 12 months, participated in the study. Findings from descriptive analyses were compared with concepts in the literature about the processes of alcohol/drug recovery and transition to motherhood. Balancing emerged as the core concept, a process that explained how women successfully integrated the recovery and motherhood processes into their identity. The women used strategies learned in the process of alcohol/drug recovery to balance between alcohol/drug recovery and motherhood. They used the strategies in unique ways during pregnancy and in early parenting to incorporate the developmental and relational aspects of both advancing in motherhood and maintaining recovery. Understanding concepts and processes associated with the concurrent experiencing of recovery and parenting will be useful to nursing and other disciplines that seek to improve the health of mothers, infants and families. This study demonstrates the complexity of the women's experiences and suggests implications for practice, theory, research, and policy.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: B, page: 3812.

Thesis (PH.D.)--OREGON HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY, 1994.

School code: 0368.